When patients finish their consultation at Davary & Smith Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery in Sterling and ask what recovery from their procedure will feel like, they sometimes expect the answer they've heard from friends, family members, or previous dental experiences: days of significant discomfort, a prescription for opioid pain medication, and a recovery period that requires real planning around pain management.

What they actually hear is different. And the reason their recovery will be different begins before they leave the operating room.

Dr. Ashkan Davary and Dr. Christopher Smith — board-certified dual-degree oral and maxillofacial surgeons who bring hospital-based training in medicine, dentistry, anesthesia, and surgery to every procedure they perform — have integrated EXPAREL into their approach to post-operative pain management as a core expression of their philosophy. Not as an add-on or an optional upgrade, but as a reflection of their belief that exceptional surgical care includes exceptional recovery care. For patients in Loudoun County and Northern Virginia facing wisdom teeth removal, dental implant surgery, bone grafting, or other oral and maxillofacial procedures, understanding what EXPAREL does and why it matters is part of understanding what makes the Davary & Smith experience genuinely different.

What EXPAREL Is — and How It Works

EXPAREL is a long-acting local anesthetic — bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension — that is administered directly to the surgical site at the time of the procedure. Unlike traditional local anesthetics, which wear off within a few hours of injection, EXPAREL uses a lipid microsphere delivery system that releases bupivacaine gradually over an extended period, providing continuous targeted pain relief at the surgical site for up to 72 hours after the procedure.

The mechanism is important to understand: EXPAREL works locally, at the site where pain originates. It does not create systemic sedation. It does not impair cognition or alertness. It does not produce the nausea, dizziness, constipation, or dependency risk associated with opioid pain medications. What it does produce is a period of meaningful, continuous pain control at the exact location where the surgical tissue is healing — which is precisely where post-operative pain originates.

What This Means for Recovery

The standard opioid-based post-operative pain management model works through systemic pain modulation: the medication enters the bloodstream and affects pain perception broadly throughout the body, with all the side effects that systemic opioid action produces. For many patients — particularly those who are sensitive to opioids, who have had negative experiences with opioid side effects, or who have personal or family concerns about opioid medications — this model creates its own set of challenges that compound an already uncomfortable recovery period.

EXPAREL's locally targeted, extended-release mechanism changes this experience in measurable ways. Patients at Davary & Smith who receive EXPAREL consistently report lower pain levels in the 48 to 72 hours following surgery compared to patients managed with traditional analgesics alone. They report being more comfortable, more functional, and better able to rest and recover without the grogginess, nausea, and impairment that opioid pain medications can produce. The need for supplemental opioid pain medication is significantly reduced — in many cases eliminated entirely for procedures that would typically have required it.

For patients with demanding schedules, family responsibilities, or professions that cannot accommodate the cognitive effects of opioid pain medications, this practical dimension of EXPAREL's benefit is often the one they describe most meaningfully after their procedure.

The Connection to Non-Opioid Surgical Philosophy

Davary & Smith's commitment to EXPAREL reflects a broader philosophy about pain management that Dr. Davary and Dr. Smith have built into the practice from its foundation. Opioid medications have a legitimate role in medicine and surgery, and they are available to patients whose pain management needs require them. But the routine prescribing of opioids for procedures where non-opioid alternatives provide comparable or superior relief is a practice that the surgical community has increasingly recognized as unnecessary — and one that contributes to a public health problem that has had devastating consequences in communities throughout the country, including Northern Virginia.

As dual-degree surgeons trained in both medicine and dentistry, Dr. Davary and Dr. Smith bring a perspective on pain management that integrates the surgical precision of their procedures with careful, evidence-based post-operative care. EXPAREL is one component of that care. Their Category 1 Certified Anesthesia Facility — which meets the highest standards for outpatient surgical safety — provides the controlled, monitored environment in which both the procedure and the anesthetic management are executed with hospital-level rigor.

Summer Is Peak Season for Wisdom Teeth — and for Getting Recovery Right

July and August are the busiest months of the year for wisdom teeth removal. Teenagers and young adults who are between school years have the scheduling flexibility to accommodate a procedure and its recovery before fall activities begin. For students heading to college in the fall, addressing wisdom teeth this summer eliminates the possibility of an unexpected dental emergency at a time when access to a trusted specialist is much harder.

When that summer procedure happens at Davary & Smith, the recovery that follows is managed with the same level of care and expertise as the surgery itself. EXPAREL means the days after wisdom teeth removal don't have to define the rest of the summer. Patients recover more comfortably, return to normal activity more quickly, and arrive at the new school year without the memory of a difficult recovery alongside the procedure.

Schedule Your Consultation at Davary & Smith

Dr. Ashkan Davary and Dr. Christopher Smith welcome patients throughout Loudoun County and Northern Virginia at their Sterling location. Consultations are comprehensive and unhurried — the practice's entire approach is built around making patients feel genuinely seen and supported from the first appointment through the last follow-up. Our practice is located in Sterling, Virginia. Call (703) 972-7773 or request an appointment online at davarysmith.com. Experience what it looks like when exceptional surgical care extends all the way through recovery.

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